Best Places97115, OR Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 97115, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

97115 ranks 5,694th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.

#5,694
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
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The best neighborhoods in 97115

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 97115 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

97115's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Civic engagement
Top 5%State infrastructure
Top 10%Clean air
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 97115 with other zip codes.

Where 97115 ranks high

  • Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of zip codes
  • State infrastructureBetter than 96% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than 93% of zip codes
  • Internet speedBetter than 92% of zip codes
  • Educational attainmentBetter than 85% of zip codes

Where 97115 ranks low

  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 18% of zip codes
  • Cheap childcare$1,249 a month, better than only 19% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 22% of zip codes
  • Healthcare accessBetter than only 31% of zip codes
  • Local economyBetter than only 36% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 97115

A household needs to earn about $148,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 97115 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $107,574, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$148,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$3,460
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $576,361 home
Median rent
$1,689
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,939
Property tax$329
Homeowners insurance$192

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 97115's effective rate of 0.69%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 97115

97115 runs older than the country.

Median age
44
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
23%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.8
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1824%
18 to 3417%
35 to 4918%
50 to 6420%
65 and older23%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 97115.


Who works in 97115, and how

Work in 97115 centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
17%
about the national average
Unemployment
4.2%
below the national average
Job growth
+3.2%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Education16%
Health care & social14%
Retail trade10%
Manufacturing9%
Hospitality & food8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 81%
  • Work from home 17%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in 97115

97115 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of zip codes. That concentrates in some parts of 97115 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
103
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 234.6 per 10,000 residents, more than 95% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 97115, month by month

97115 sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January50°42°35°
April64°51°39°
July87°69°52°
October67°54°42°

Flying in and out of 97115

The nearest airport, McNary Field, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 30 miles away.

Nearest airport
SLE
McNary Field, about 26 miles
Airport size
Nonprimary
3 nonstop destinations
Average drive
37 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 97115

Schools across 97115 average a C+, better than 51% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 97115 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


97115 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 97115 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 97115

Is 97115 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 97115 ranks 5,694th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on civic engagement, state infrastructure, and clean air, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 97115 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $576,361. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $107,574 median income, cost of living beats 70% of zip codes.

Is 97115 safe?

Yes, 97115 is safer than 85% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $273 per resident a year.


Compare 97115 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 97115. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 97115 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

97115 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 97115: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 97115: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 97115: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 97115: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

97115 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.